Dancing With Stars
by Jaina Eowyn
Summary: Jaina and Jacen have another adventure with a star fighter (no Lowie or Tenel Ka, but there is Zekk). They get taken to a familiar planet and get into new adventures. The story's a lot better than the summary; PLEASE R&R! Now suspended for Fast Forward.
1. Chapter One: Runaways

Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me, nor do any of the established characters from the Star Wars books. The song 'Leaving' was modeled (probably pretty obviously) on Annie Lexxon's song, Into The West, from the Return of the King soundtrack. Other than that, it's all mine, hehe. I couldn't think of a better name, so if you have one, post it in the reviews or something. Thanks!

**Dancing With Stars**

**By Jaina Eowyn**

**Chapter One:**

**Runaways**

"Jacen!" Jaina called as she walked down the corridor of the Jedi trainees' rooms of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy on Yavin IV.

"Here, Jaina!" Her twin brother called out from his room. She reached down to grab the doorknob and started to turn it when she heard Jacen call out, "Don't open it, Jaina!" She jerked her hand back, and then peered at the door as if trying to see through it.

"Why not?" She asked, curious.

"Hold on a nano," Jacen called back, and then the door opened enough to let her slight body come in. Jacen motioned her to come in quickly.

She slipped in, looking around as Jacen hastily closed the door behind her. She raised an eyebrow at what she saw. A large cage lay toppled on the floor and animal bedding from the bottom of it was scattered over at least one quarter of the floor.

"What _happened_?" She asked, almost dreading the answer.

"They're loose again," Jacen sighed, lying down on the floor next to his bed and peering under it.

"_Again_?" Jaina asked incredulously. "You know, those things are going to get you kicked out of the Academy."

Jacen sighed. "I know, but I love all of them. I couldn't let them go again after all I had to go through to get them all. Besides, most of them aren't native to Yavin IV. They'd disrupt the ecology."

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Well, they're going to disrupt the Academy first, if you don't keep them under control."

Jacen made a noise that sounded like a groan coupled with a sigh. "I know, I _know_! Just don't tell Uncle Luke. They're too big to get out, so I know they're still in here."

Now it was Jaina's turn to sigh. "Fine, I won't tell him _this_ time. But if they keep getting out, I'll have to tell him. This is the seventh time!" She added in her authoritative 'I'm older than you' tone. She seemed to use it a lot when she had the upper hand in a conversation with him or Anakin.

"I'll get the cage set back up," she offered, walking over to the wire contraption and setting it upright. "How'd they get out this time?"

"They managed to undo the lock. Again. The lock _you_ made," Jacen added in a slightly smug tone.

"How?" Jaina asked, glaring at him. She had made the lock specially so that these certain animals wouldn't be able to pick it and open the cage, and with all her mechanics expertise, it should have worked.

"I dunno!" Jacen said defensively. "I didn't watch 'em do it!"

"Okay, okay," Jaina soothed. "So anyways, how are we supposed to catch them?" She asked, grabbing a hand broom and dustpan to sweep up the spilled bedding. Jacen shrugged. Jaina swept up all the particles of bedding that had previously been in the bottom of the cage and put them back in their previous place.

"I just hope no one comes in and lets them out of my room," Jacen said, coming over to help Jaina clean up.

At that moment, the door opened and their uncle, Luke Skywalker entered. Once he was inside the room and out of the way of the door, two dark streaks dashed past him. Jacen stifled a despairing groan and grinned up at Luke.

"Hi, Uncle Luke. What did you need?"

"I just wanted to give you two a letter from your parents," the older Jedi answered. He handed his niece a pad. She gave Jacen an almost imperceptible smirk that said 'hah! I'm older, so there'.

"Thanks, Uncle Luke!" She said cheerfully and smiled up at the Jedi Master. Luke nodded and smiled back, then left the room, closing the door behind him..

The second he was out of the room, the smiles vanished from the twins' faces and Jaina dropped the message pad.

They ran to the door and pulled it open, poking their heads out. Seeing Luke disappearing down the corridor, they dashed out.

"Which way did they go?" Jacen asked in a frantic, panicky voice. If the damfpai got somewhere they shouldn't be, there was no telling _what_ havoc they could wreak.

"Uh... uh..." Jaina stuttered, glancing down the corridor both ways. "You take one way and I'll take the other!"

Jacen dashed down the left-hand passageway and Jaina took the right-hand one. Soon, Jacen was all but shouting for Jaina, dashing back up the hallway.

"Jaina, Jaina, I found them!" He called. Jaina dashed back up the hallway towards her brother and they ran down the left-hand passageway.

"Where were they?" Jaina breathed as they ran.

"They're headed towards the outside door. If they get out..." Jacen gasped, leaving the last sentence hanging.

Jaina nodded. "We've gotta catch 'em, then."

They almost ran into the door of the Academy dining room. They caught themselves just in time and slowed to a casual walk. They strode through the room to the opposite doors, but the minute they were through them, they broke into a run again.

They made it to the outside doors just in time to see two blue streaks following a younger Jedi trainee walking out. They glanced at each other and groaned softly, their blue eyes locking. They walked over to the doors as quickly as they could without attracting attention.

Once outside, they saw the blue streaks running away. The twins ran after them as fast as they could, pushing their way through bushes and tall grasses.

"Oh, _blaster bolts_!" Jacen groaned. "They've gone into the forest!"

"Come _on_," Jaina sighed, pushing her way through more plants, making her way after the blue streaks, which were slightly slowing due to the impediments in their path.

"They're slowing down!" Jaina added, thrusting the obstacles out of her way in renewed determination.

They pushed through the undergrowth for another fifteen minutes or so, catching sights of their quarry every now and again.

Suddenly Jaina stopped and Jacen almost ran here over. As she regained her balance, she pointed towards something about twenty-five feet in front of them.

"Jacen, what's that?" She asked.

Jacen peered at it. "It looks like metal, but I can't tell."

They slowed down as they approached it. As they got closer, they heard whimpering sounds. When they got close enough to see what was gleaming, they gasped and exchanged stunned glances.


	2. Chapter Two: Star Sightings

Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me, nor do any of the established characters from the Star Wars books. I couldn't think of a better name, so if you have one, post it in the reviews or something. Thanks!

**Chapter Two:**

**Star Sightings**

The source of the sparkle was an old, abandoned E-wing.

"It's gotta be as old as Dad!" Jacen exclaimed. Jaina gave him a reproving glance.

"Dad's not _that_ old. Well, maybe he is," she added thoughtfully. The war had been about twenty years ago, and although she hadn't been able to wheedle out his exact age, he had to have been at least twenty-five or thirty at that time.

She got a dreamy, far off look on her face as she walked over to the old fighter, imagining piloting it for the Rebellion. Jacen followed her.

"Come on, let's check it out," she said briskly, jerking herself back to the present. Jacen backed up three steps, holding up his hands as if to ward off an attack.

"No way, Jaina! Remember what happened the last time we did that?" Jaina nodded.

"But that was an old, decrepit TIE fighter of the Empire. This is a perfectly good E-wing, and E-wings are Republic craft." Jacen shook his head.

"I don't want to take any chances, sis. You and your ships always seem to get me in trouble."

Jaina rolled her eyes and muttered, loud enough for him to hear, "Little brothers!"

"Hey, I'm not _that_ much younger than you!" He protested. She grinned, having gotten a rise out of him.

"I'm going to go look for the damfpai," he said, turning on his heel and walking around to where the whimpers were coming from. Jaina shrugged and climbed into the old fighter.

"Wow, this thing _is _old!" She breathed as she looked at the controls, outdated by the latest models that had been produced at the end of the rebellion. "It almost looks like a prototype! I wonder how it got here." She explored the controls a bit more as Jacen explored outside the ship.

Jacen groaned as he peered under the ship. The damfpai had lodged themselves securely under the middle of the ship. They weren't going to be easy to get out.

"Jaina, can you turn on the repulsorlift?" Jacen called. There was no answer.

"_Jaina_?"

"Huh?" His call had pulled her away from her reverie, sitting in front of the controls, pretending to pilot them. "Oh, sure thing, bro!" She called back. "Why?"

"The stupid damfpai have lodged themselves under the middle of the ship. I can't get them out!" Jacen called back, glaring at the animals.

"Sure, whatever!" She shouted, obviously not caring why, just happy to have a reason to mess with the controls.

With a very loud groan, the ship raised off the ground 2 ½ feet. At the loud noise, the startled damfpai dashed out... straight into Jacen's arms. He glared at the little blue animals.

They were about the size of a small cat, with blue medium-long fur. They had a rat's body, small mousy ears, and long legs ending in hoof-like paws on their hind legs that helped them survive in their home world of swampish ground and dexterous front paws that allowed them to open the cage. The female had dark violet spots on her medium blue fur while the male had dark blue spots on his light blue fur. They were omnivorous, although they ate slightly more meat and certainly looked like carnivores with wicked sharp teeth. They were, in fact, exactly the opposite of their appearance: friendly and sweet-natured curious little mammal-type animals.

"Are they out yet?" Jaina called, an excited edge to her voice.

"Yeah!" Jacen yelled back. Jaina set the ship back down and climbed out.

"Blaster bolts, Jacen, this thing is _ancient_! It looks like a prototype! You've seen the newest ships! Its _nothing_ like those. You should see the _controls_ on this thing!" She jabbered on in the most animated, excited voice Jacen had ever heard her use, even when discussing the nitty-gritty of mechanics. Jacen followed his sister back into the ship with the two damfpai still in his arms. His eyes widened when he saw the control panel.

"Whoa! _I'll_ say it's ancient! It _does_ look like a prototype, Jay!"

"See this one?" She asked, pointing to one trigger. "This was the old laser cannon trigger, before they changed 'em to more efficient power."

Jacen explored the panel, with the damfpai twitching their rabbity noses at the controls.

"Most of these look familiar, but... _not_ familiar, somehow," Jaina mused, glancing over the separate controls.

Suddenly, the male damfpai jumped from Jacen's arms and hit another trigger. The door snapped locked and the ship began to rise. The female damfpai followed her mate to the back of the ship. Both twins gasped and exchanged nervous glances.

"I dread to ask, but what did Corle push?" He asked. Jaina looked back at the control panel.

"The ignition trigger. But I can reverse it," she added in relief. She pushed the button again. There was a pause as she waited for them to settle back to the ground. With a frown, she pressed it again. Still, they continued rising. With a concerned look, she pressed a series of buttons and her eyes widened at the message that appeared on the screen.

"What?" Jacen asked.

"It's on autopilot!" She gasped. She pressed another sequence of buttons. She squeezed her eyes shut when she saw the new message.

"What now?"

"The droid's dead!!" Jaina cried in despair. "I can't change course!! It won't let me into the system!"

"_What_?!" Jacen shrieked. Jaina winced.

"Not so loud, bro. It's stuck on autopilot; I can't change course." She groaned. "What do we do _now_?"

Jacen shrugged. "I don't know. _You're_ the mechanic here. We're already going to be in trouble for not coming back to lessons." Jaina glared at him.

"It's not _my_ fault! If your stupid _pet_ hadn't jumped on the wrong button, we wouldn't _be_ here!" Jacen held up his hands defensively and backed up a step.

"'K, sis, I gotcha." Jaina relaxed and slumped into the pilot's seat.

"Sorry, Jacen, I'm just a little on edge. There's nothing I can do to change our course, and there _should_ be!" She bashed her fist onto the top of the console, which was devoid of buttons that could wreak more havoc, and then jerked it back, waving and blowing on it, grimacing at the sting from the force of the blow.

"C'mon, Jaina, let's just settle down and see what happens," Jacen suggested soothingly. Jaina sighed.

"I guess you're right. There's nothing more we can do now, but see what fate brings us."

A/N: Thanks, Steph (I hope I'm right, since that's your email, lol). I know it's Lennox, I just had a typo. gasp ;) Glad you liked it, though. And sorry, there'll be cliffhangers. I like 'em, hehe. See if there's anyone else you know who might read it and R&R. Please? Thanks.


	3. Chapter Three: Many Meetings

Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me, nor do any of the established characters from the Star Wars books. Only the ones that I am creating, including the ones in this chapter.

Chapter Three: Many Meetings 

After several hours of bored waiting and trying to patch through the comm link back to Yavin IV every once in a while, the twins finally decided to explore the rest of the ship.

"C'mon, Jaina, give it up," Jacen pleaded after she tried the comm again.

"Fine. There's nothing I can do, and I don't need to pilot the ship, so I _guess_ I'm free to explore. But the only place to see is the back, and there's barely enough room for a human to squeeze in back there with the droid."

"Well, I need to get the damfpai anyways, so I'll climb behind the seat and get them." Jacen climbed out from where he had been cramped beside Jaina beside the seat.

"This sure wasn't made for _two_!" She grunted as he squeezed past.

"Get used to it," Jacen retorted. "We don't know how long we'll be in here. Good thing I'm not as fat as you, sis," he added, teasing his older twin, grinning to himself as he poked his arm into the space behind the seat. She growled.

"Look, I'm going back up front. There's _obviously_ not enough room for _both_ of us back here!" She grunted, pushing her way back to the seat.

Jacen shrugged and swung his arm around in the space that should have contained the droid compartment, and promptly connected solidly with something that definitely _wasn't_ a damfpai or a droid. There was a noise that sounded like a stifled gasp of pain. Jacen swung his hand more gently towards where he'd felt the thing and grabbed what felt like cloth and pulled. There was only a slight tearing sound and a boy's tousled red head popped out. The head turned up to Jacen and a pair of green eyes peered up at him. Jacen stared.

"Who are you?" the boy asked. He looked about fifteen. Jacen shook himself out of his shock.

"Uh... uh..."

"Why are you named 'Uh'?"

"Jacen, don't try and play tricks on me," came Jaina's voice from in front of him. "It's getting rather annoying. I know that we're the only ones in this ship, and don't tell me it's the damfpai or something equally ridiculous, because I know they're too stupid to speak."

"They're not stupid!" The teenager protested, dragging out the male and handing him to Jacen.

"Jacen, _stop_!!" Jaina sounded irritated.

"Are you Jacen?" The boy asked, turning to Jacen.

"Uh... yeah," Jacen replied.

"Jacen, if you don't quit, I'm going to come back there to get you, and we'll get squished in and we won't be able to get out." Jaina sounded angry now.

"Gemeia, come out," the boy called, turning back towards the hold he had come from. Another head poked out, this one brown haired, streaked with gold. The girl turned up to the boy, and then glanced at Jacen through blue eyes.

"Morring, who's this?" She asked, almost suspiciously. She looked about Jacen and Jaina's age, fourteen.

"_Jacen_!!" Jaina all but screamed his name. The three of them winced.

"What?" Jacen asked in an almost meek voice.

"If you don't _stop_ with the voices, I'm going to _throttle_ you! I think Mom and Dad would like us _both_ back in one _piece_!" She gritted the words through clenched teeth. She was _really_ annoyed now.

"It's _not_ me!!" Now Jacen was almost yelling. Morring and Gemeia winced again.

"Can you guys not yell so loud?" Gemeia implored.

"Okay, that's _it_!!" This time Jaina really did yell, and then screamed. She quickly climbed around the seat, and then froze at the sight of three people, almost falling on them.

"Oh... uh... uh... um..." Jaina stuttered. "Sorry, Jacen," she whispered, still staring at the two strangers.

Jacen shrugged. He knew he would have reacted the same way.

"Who's this?" She asked almost suspiciously, echoing Gemeia's words.

"Morring and Gemeia," Morring answered for Jacen, indicating himself and his sister. He held out his hand and Jaina shook it as she slid in beside Jacen. Now they were all _very_ squashed, so Jacen and Morring stood up as far as they could in the fighter, leaning on the walls to make a little more room. They sat in silence for a little while before Jaina finally spoke.

"So, what are you two doing on here?"

"We could ask you the same thing, but I'll answer you first," Morring replied. "Truth to tell, we're not completely sure. We're orphans, and we were shipped off to our uncle when our parents died last year. He works in the shipyards and considers himself too busy to watch two 'kids'." He grimaced at 'kids', obviously not considering himself one. "I know he wasn't too happy with having us there, but I didn't know _how_ unhappy until two weeks ago when he invited us to come look at one of the ancient prototype E-wings. We were exploring the controls, which we thought were dead and dormant. He stepped outside when one of his underlings called him away and then I accidentally pressed a button and we lifted off." He blushed and looked sheepish.

"Which button did you press?" Jaina asked, almost suspiciously. Morring leaned over his sister and the pilots seat and pointed. "That one." Jaina pushed her head up to look. She shook her head.

"That's _not_ the ignition trigger." Morring didn't look especially surprised.

"I didn't think it was. I figured most of the big, obvious ones were somehow rigged for one-time use to ignite the ship and turn on the autopilot."

"Well, I wish we knew where the autopilot was taking us this time," Jaina sighed.

To make accommodations _slightly_ more comfortable, they took turns sleeping in the droid compartment and cockpit. There were some boards that Morring and Gemeia had dragged into the fighter that had served as a table that were now used as a bed. Since Morring was only slightly bigger than Jacen and Jaina was a little smaller than Gemeia, Jacen and Gemeia started out sleeping in the droid compartment and Morring and Jaina had to share the boards that were balanced together in the cockpit.

They all bundled their jackets under their heads for pillows and used the blankets Morring and Gemeia had used during the cold Yavin nights. The droid compartment was only slightly more comfortable than the cockpit because there, they could stretch out completely. The cockpit, on the other hand, had been built to be sat in, not slept in, so they had to scrunch up considerably more.

Morring and Gemeia had a considerably good store of food, considering that they had been in space and on Yavin IV for two weeks and had had to forage so as not to deplete the rations too much, so at least the quartet didn't starve.

They took turns sleeping in the droid compartment and the cockpit every night so no one got too cramped. Since Morring and Jaina were the most experienced pilots, they were usually up in the cockpit when no one was sleeping there, pouring over the control panel or the manual they had found wedged in between the droid compartment and the deflector-shield generator, while Jacen and Gemeia huddled in the cramped space behind them. There was a lot of shoving at first, but after the first day, they got reconciled to the situation.

"There, _that's_ what we want to be ready to program in if it comes off autopilot," Jaina told Morring on the third 'morning', pointing out the coordinates for Yavin IV after they had finally realized that they must be approaching their destination since they had already jumped to hyperspace a day and a half ago. She wasn't sure why it had taken so long, but at least they had just jumped out an hour ago.

"That may be what _you_ want to program in, but what about us?" Morring asked.

"We'll make sure you get back to your uncle's shipyard," Jaina answered distractedly, still absorbed in the manual.

"What if we don't _want_ to go back?" Morring asked, almost sounding irritated. Jaina looked up.

"Huh? What'd you say? Oh. Well, you could probably stay and help out at the Academy. Or we could ask Uncle Luke if he could test you for Force potential."

"What if we don't want _any_ of that?" Morring asked again in exasperation.

Jaina looked up this time. "Then what _do_ you want, Morring?"

"Maybe we want to take the E-wing around and see the galaxy," the boy replied uncertainly.

"It would be rather cramped," Jaina said, rolling her eyes. "You don't really know what you want, do you?"

Morring paused, and then shook his head.

"Then come back to... what's that?" Jaina trailed off, pointing to a small speck in the distance.

Morring peered in the direction she was pointing at. "A planet!" He suddenly cried. "It's a planet!"

Jacen and Gemeia popped their heads over the top of the seat, cracking them together in the process.

"Where, where?" The younger girl asked, looking around.

Jaina pointed. "Ha, I win." She was referring to a bet as to who would spot a planet first. She stuck her tongue out at Jacen.

"Yeah, but just 'cause you can 'drive'!" Jacen said scornfully, emphasizing the word 'drive' since she wasn't really driving, and stuck out his tongue back at her.

"Hey, come on," Gemeia said, staring at the planet. "What do you think it is?"

"It's a planet, laser brain," Morring replied sarcastically. She glared at him.

"I meant which one is it and you knew it, motor mouth."

The other twins smothered grins. They wondered if everyone behaved like little kids when they had been cooped up together for days in a small space.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see," Jaina replied logically.


	4. Chapter Four: One Ship Down

Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to Lucas, except the characters I made up and the plot for this story. Okay, I know that the song is dumb, but like I've said before (maybe not in this fic, but...), I'm not very good at making up songs. Maybe I'll change it later. If you've got any suggestions for a new song, email me.

in a boxing announcer's voice totally unlike my own And, in this chapter, introducing the wonderful, beloved Z...! Oops, guess I better not say who's showing up. But from that letter and the summary, you've probably guessed, huh? Well, don't go on until you do.

A/N: Okay, listen up. waits Oh wow, someone's listening! Anyways... okay, I've decided that I'm not going to post new chapters until I get 5-10 reviews per chapter. I think that's fair, because you can review on every chapter. If I get more reviews, that's great, I might even let them count towards the next chapter, hehe. So get all your friends to read this is you want it updated, because this is the last free one (one that doesn't have 5-10 reviews) that I'm posting. Sorry. So let's review! whee!

Chapter Four: One Ship Down 

"Come on, Jay, try _one_ more time!" Jacen coaxed his sister.

"But, Jac, I've tried to get through to their tower fifteen _times_!" Jaina complained, but tried again.

"Tower, this is E-Jump requesting landing approval." There was still no answer; just the dead sizzle of static. "Look, Jacen, it's no good. I told you earlier, I think that the comm unit really is dead. There's no way they'll –"

A crackling in the E-Wing's comm unit cut her off. "E-Jump, this is Tower. You have permission to land in docking bay three-one-seven."

Jacen smiled smugly at his older sister who just rolled her eyes. "Uh, acknowledged, Tower; docking bay three-one-seven." She shut off the comm unit. "Well, folks, looks like we're in!" She cried triumphantly, eyes gleaming.

The autopilot didn't let up at all, not even to land, which left all four of the teenagers to gaze excitedly out of the cockpit window. When the little craft landed, it finally automatically released the door and they all piled out, almost tripping on one another. They stared at their surroundings, taking in the towering skyscrapers and other impressive buildings.

"You know, Jac, this looks familiar somehow," Jaina whispered.

Suddenly, a heavy hand descended on Jaina and Jacen's shoulders.

"Coruscant Police," a stern voice announced as the four young people turned around to see who had spoken. "You are under arrest," it added.

They saw that a young man in his late twenties had spoken. His cropped black hair was partially hidden under a police hat and he wore the tan uniform that immediately identified without a doubt that he was, indeed, Coruscant Police.

"Why are we under arrest?" Jaina asked boldly. "We've done nothing wrong!"

"Why did you wait so long to contact the tower for landing permission? You were already within atmosphere. You should have contacted us much sooner, as is the protocol. Everyone knows _that_," the policeman added with contempt.

"Our comm unit wouldn't work. The ship's a beat up piece of junk and it's been acting up ever since we took off," Jaina retorted, not the least intimidated.

"Well, you aren't in the scheduled arrivals, either."

"Like I said, our comm unit wasn't working!" Jaina was starting to get mad. Why was the man so insistent on making them into criminals?

"You should have made sure it was working before you left or scheduled it from the planet you departed from."

"We didn't know we would be 'departing', so we didn't have a _chance_ to prepare or check anything!" Jaina protested.

"Ah, thieves!" The man declared, grabbing the girl's jumpsuit collar and pulling her up close. She glared at him. He was too insistent on arresting them. He must be bored. Maybe there hadn't been any smugglers for him to arrest for a couple weeks.

"We're not thieves. See, I have my Academy badge on. We are Jaina and Jacen Solo."

"You could have stolen that jumpsuit. What about the other two?"

"They're our friends." There was a pause as they glared at each other. The man dropped her collar. "Look, if you don't believe us, call up our mother, Senator Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan. _She'll_ vouch for us!"

"I see no need to involve the Princess. You are all under arrest. Come with me!"

"No!" He grabbed Jaina again.

"Do not defy me, girl," he growled. "Maybe, if you _cooperate_, we will call up the Princess and see if she will assure us as to your identities, but don't count on it otherwise. So be silent and come quietly."

Jaina appeared to be broken and motioned for the others to follow, but Jacen could see a red fire burning in his sister's brown eyes. _She'll find a way out_, he thought, _She always does_.

They were thrown into a cell the minute they got to the prison. It wasn't a small cell, but it wasn't large, either. There were only two beds in it, and Gemeia and Morring offered to take the extra blankets and sleep on the floor since they were already used to sleeping on the hard E-Wing floor.

They were left in the cell for two days. They were fed, but it wasn't very appetizing; barely better than gruel. _Huh, not much has changed in prison since the stone age._ _I wonder if this is the same batch they served in the very first prison,_ Jaina thought humorously.

On the third day, Jaina was sitting by the front of the cell, singing a little song she remembered from one of the music holos that her mother had given her when she was a little kid. It was dumb and it wasn't her favorite of all the songs she'd ever heard, not by far, but it was the one that popped into her head for some reason.

I'm just one little girl

In this crazy universe

Planet spinnin' round me,

I am wonderin' what I'm worth.

I know that I'm not useless,

But I'm nothin' special, either.

But when I'm in my cockpit,

That's when I am someone.

Showin' what I can do,

Whizzin' through the stars.

Now the planet's spinnin' 'neath me,

Now I'm the one on top.

I know that I can –

"Jaina!" Whispered a voice, cutting off the line.

"W – who's there?" She asked suspiciously, peering around. She looked out through the bars, trying to see if someone was there.

"Its Zekk!" The voice said, and a familiar face suddenly popped up in front of her nose.

"Whoa, Zekk!" She hissed, jerking back in surprise.

"What, not happy to see me?" He asked softly, pulling a comically sad face. Then he grinned in sudden inspiration. "Hey, want me to spring you from there?"

"Uh, sure."

"'K, well, we've got to hurry. The warden'll be by any time now."

"Why?"

"Lookin' for his keys," Zekk grinned as he held the offending remote that was used to open the doors. He aimed one end at the sensor pad on the door and pressed several different keys before it made a soft clicking sound. "There. Hurry up!"

"Wait!" Jaina whispered, grabbing his arm as he started away. "I've got to get the others." Zekk sighed, but waited.

Jaina went from one to the other, placing a hand over each one's mouth before waking them up so that they wouldn't cry out. Soon, all four of them were following Zekk up the hallway to freedom.

Zekk liberated a couple of other teenagers on the way, then left the remote key on a table where he had found it so the warden wouldn't suspect anything.

When they were outside, the other kids peeled away into several groups and went their own ways.

"Why were you down there, Zekk?" Jaina asked as they stopped in a park to sit on some benches and catch their breath.

"I could ask you the same question," Zekk replied. He was genuinely curious why Jaina had been in the brig: Jaina Solo was _not_ the sort of person you expected to see in jail. Zekk was more that type than Jaina.

Jaina blushed a deep red, not from embarrassment, but from rage. "For something that was utterly stupid and not our fault. Our E-Wing was messed up and we couldn't schedule a landing before entering atmosphere, so the _idiot_ officer on duty _arrested_ us. I think he was just bored. There probably hasn't been much activity on his late night shifts or something and we were the best he could get," she added in disgust. Zekk laughed. "So what were _you_ doing there?" Jaina asked again.

"Oh, just springing some of the gang," he replied nonchalantly. A little _too_ nonchalantly, Jaina thought. She eyed him.

"Did 'some of the gang' include you?"

He colored very slightly. "Well, um... yeah. But I just got in so I could get the remote and let the rest of the gang out and..." He trailed off, unable to think of a better alibi.

"Right..." Jaina didn't believe a word of it. She remembered a couple times Zekk was the cause of several of his friends (and, more of then than not, himself along with them) getting put in the slammer. He always managed to find a way out at the last possible second and free everyone else.

"Well, thanks for including us in 'the gang'," Jaina added, giving Zekk a quick little hug of thanks. He blushed, but simply nodded. Jaina saw Jacen roll his eyes at her. She knew what he was thinking. He thought she was getting sweet on Zekk and he was getting sweet on her. Well, it was true she liked him well enough... as a friend. What he thought of her, she didn't know.

He surprised her by suddenly blurting, "Well, I couldn't very well leave a pretty girl in there, now, could I? Especially one with a voice."

Jaina turned back to him. "Wadda you mean?"

He blushed just a little again. "Well, the only reason I sprung you was 'cause I heard you singing."

She stared at him. "You mean you would have left us if I couldn't sing?" She asked dubiously with a slightly dangerous tone to her voice. Geez, what a friend!

"No, no!" Zekk quickly corrected himself, holding up his hands. "I just meant that I wouldn't have realized it was you otherwise." She stared at him. "I mean, I'd recognize your face anywhere, of course," he added, looking straight into her brandy brown eyes with his green ones as if it would confirm his reasoning. "Its just that I might not have realized it really was you. I mean, it was a jail, and you're... you're..."

"Just a pretty face?" Jaina asked with a slightly sarcastic tone. "Or just not the kind of girl you'd expect in there? Not one of the kind of girls in your gang? Well, let me tell you, Zekk..." Zekk stopped her with one hand on her shoulder and another held up in front of her face.

"No, Jay," he said, using the pet name he and Jacen and her family used, "you're just as tough and everything as they are, but you're not a troublemaker who'd typically land in jail."

"Like you?" She asked with a grin. She glanced over to make sure the others weren't trying to eavesdrop. All three were apparently deep in conversation.

Zekk dropped his head as he let his hand fall from her shoulders and looked back up with a smile. "Yeah, not like me. But your voice _was_ what got my attention. Not just because it was familiar, but 'cause we need a lead female vocalist for our band and you'd be a perfect fit." He pleaded with his eyes.

"Who's the lead male vocalist?" Jaina had her suspicions and as long as she was right, she wouldn't mind.

"Well, I don't think its someone you don't like. Actually, I think you like him."

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Come on, spill it."

"Guess."

"Come _on_, Zekk!"

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Yeah what?"

"I'm the lead male vocalist."

She grinned. "That's what I thought. Well, we're not doing anything until we can figure out how to jimmy the E-Wing so it'll stay off autopilot, so I guess I can." She held up a finger. "And its just a favor for you! I wouldn't do it otherwise!" _I'm also doing it because it's a place to hide from the 'police',_ she added in her mind.

He grinned. "Thanks. Thanks, Jaina. You won't regret it!"

_I sure hope not!_ She thought.


	5. Chapter Five: Stage Act

A/N: On the song, any words in brackets and italics are the actions that they do while singing.

Chapter Five: Stage Act 

Several nights later, Jaina had gotten used to working with the bands rhythms and was ready to learn her duets with Zekk for the next night's performance. Mandy whipped up a couple songs for them and gave one to Jizz to help Zekk learn and she helped Jaina.

"So we just get up and sing it like usual?" Jaina asked.

"Well, this on is a bit different. You and Zekk have a special little 'something' in this song, since it's the last one for the night," Mandy replied uncomfortably. Jaina eyed her suspiciously.

"What kind of 'little something'?"

"Just read it."

Jaina did as Mandy instructed and let out a sigh when she came to the part Mandy had indicated. "Oh, that's all." She did a double-take and reread it. "_We have to _kiss_! On_stage" She all but screeched. She looked frantically around the room as if looking for an escape ladder. "But... but... but..." She spluttered. _We're just _friends She thought. _I wonder what _he'll_ think of this!_

Mandy grinned. "I knew you wouldn't mind."

"What makes you think I don't mind?" She squeaked.

Mandy looked confused. "I've seen the way he looks at you; I thought..."

"No. No, no, no," Jaina repeated the word. "We're just friends. I don't want to _kiss_ him!"

"But you always look..." Mandy trailed off. She was older and already had a boyfriend and had thought Jaina and Zekk would be like her and Jizz.

Jaina sighed. "Its fine; I'll sing it. It'll just seem a little... weird." _I can't believe she wants me to kiss him! I can't believe I'm doing this..._

Once Mandy and Jizz were sure both of them knew all the songs, Mandy told Zekk to come in to practice with Jaina. Once she was satisfied with his rendition, she left them alone to practice. When the door closed behind her, Jaina and Zekk turned to face each other.

"Well, this should be fun!" Zekk declared cheerfully, smiling at Jaina.

She stared at him. Fun? Maybe Jizz hadn't told him about the closing of the show. Then she had an even worse thought. What if Jizz _had_ told him and he thought it would be fun!?

"Um, what do you mean?"

Zekk looked puzzled. "It'll be fun getting to perform all these songs. Why, what did you think I meant?"

Jaina chewed her lower lip. "Oh, nothing." He gave her a 'look'. She chewed her lip some more, then finally spit out the words. "Did Jizz tell you about that last song? Leaving?"

Zekk wrinkled his brow. "Uh, yeah. It's not a really hard song, just remembering who sings what parts of which verses." He looked at her quizzically.

Jaina bit her lip again. "No, that's not quite what I meant. Oh, well lets just go through the songs and work on the choreographies."

When they finally got to Leaving, they were both fairly comfortable singing together and laughing at their mistakes.

"So, what is it about this 'Leaving' that you don't especially like?" Zekk asked.

_Is he just playing naive or does he really not know?_ Jaina wondered. His voice sounded innocent enough, but Zekk was a rather good actor.

"Well, um... uh..." Jaina trailed off. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'll give you a hint." She puckered up her lips and leaned towards him. Zekk leaned backwards on his chair to stay away from her and fell over. She grinned and helped him up.

"Don't do it again!" Zekk pleaded, half in jest.

Jaina sighed again, the smile slipping from her face. "Well, you're gonna have to. Mandy decided to write it into the closing song."

Zekk groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead, letting it slide down his face in despair. "It sounds just like her," he grumbled. He took a breath to fortify himself. "Well, lets get on with it," he said in a resigned voice.

Jaina picked up the lyrics, and then paused. "Wait. Um, Zekk, would you mind terribly if we just rehearsed the other parts of the song up to the last line of the lyrics and skipped the kiss until we're onstage?"

Zekk snorted. "No way! I'd give anything to skip it!"

Jaina sighed happily. "Oh, good. I was afraid you might... you know..."

"Want to do it?" Zekk asked incredulously. "Sorry, Jay! We're just friends... whatever Mandy may think!"

They both laughed and proceeded to rehearse the song.

"Ooh, I'm so nervous!" Jaina whispered backstage as they were getting ready to go on to sing.

"Hey, relax, Jay!" Zekk whispered back, putting an arm around her shoulder and giving her a friendly squeeze. "You'll be fine. You always are," he added with a grin. "Besides, you couldn't mess up. You look too pretty," he added with a wink that only she saw. Jaina looked up to where Jacen was standing, smothering a grin. He had heard every word of their exchange, but had obviously not seen Zekk's wink. Zekk saw her looking pointedly at Jacen and dropped his arm.

"You ready?" He whispered.

"As long as you're with me!" She whispered back. What she meant was that if he forgot the lyrics and she had to continue solo, she'd kill him after the performance. She saw Jacen taking it the wrong way again and promised herself she'd have a 'talk' with him after the show.

"Come on, we're on!" Zekk whispered, taking Jaina's hand and leading her out onto the stage. They both plastered on giant stage smiles and waved and bowed. Jaina's sequined dress shimmered as Jizz introduced the first song and they launched into a rollicking song about the stars.

Finally, it came time for the last song. The songs had all started out fast and started slowing down with each consecutive song to lead up to Leaving. It was a slow song, almost like a ballad and the melody was beautiful and haunting. Jaina and Zekk had rehearsed it more times than they could count and were more than confident in everything... except the kiss.

Zekk: Lay down your sweet and weary head./ _Zekk brought Jaina's head to his shoulder_

Night is falling,/

I will be here to the end./

Zekk: Sleep now,/

And dream of what your life will be./

Of what it was,/

And of what the future sees./

Zekk: Why do you weep?/

What are these tears upon your face?/ _Zekk wiped away imaginary tears from Jaina's upturned face _

Soon you will see/

I'll make your fears all pass away./

Zekk: Safe in my arms,/

You're only sleeping./

Jaina: What can you see?/

On our horizon?/

What do our fortunes tell?/ _Both turned to look out over the audience for the next two verses _

Zekk & Jaina: Across the sea/

A pale moon rises./

Zekk: Their ships have come/

Jaina: To bring you to war./

Jaina: And dawn will turn to silver glass,/

A light on the water,/

All will pass./ _Jaina turned back to face Zekk, her head dropped to her chest _

Jaina: Hope fades/

Into the world of night./

Through darkness falling,/

Out of memory and time./

_ Zekk put a finger under her chin & brought her head up to look at him _

Zekk: Don't say we have come now to the end./

Though ships are coming,/

You and I will meet again./

Zekk: And you'll be here in my arms,/ _Zekk brought Jaina back to his shoulder _

Just sleeping./

Jaina: What can you see?/

On our horizon?/

What do our fortunes tell?/ _Both turned to look out over the audience for the next two verses _

Zekk & Jaina: Across the sea/

A pale moon rises./

Zekk: Their ships have come/

Jaina: To bring you to war./

Jaina: And dawn will turn to silver glass,/

A light on the water./

The ships pass/

Zekk & Jaina: Into the west./

Zekk pulled Jaina into a kiss as the lights flashed out. They both wiped their lips with their sleeves, and then quickly turned back to the audience to bow as the lights came back on.

As soon as the applause ended, they both scurried offstage. Once out of sight of the audience, they both started furiously wiping their mouths.

As they walked back to their dressing rooms, Zekk wiped more red off his mouth.

"Yuck!" He commented, "it makes it look like you bit my lip! Tell Mandy to lay off with the lipstick!"

"Hey, I didn't want it on my lips any more than you!" Jaina laughed. "And heck, I've got it worse than you. I've got... something on my mouth. Yuck! Did you eat and not wash your mouth before singing or something?"

Now it was Zekk's turn to laugh. "Nope. I never wash it anyways," he said with a sly grin. Jaina rolled her eyes, but smiled back. She sighed.

"Mm, now I'm hungry."

Zekk grinned. "Dinner?"

"Uh, sure, but let me change first, 'k?"

Zekk nodded and they both went into their changing rooms to put on their clothes.

When Jaina emerged from her changing room, Zekk was waiting for her. He was dressed in rather nice clothes (for Zekk). Jaina turned to go back to her room.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I should get dressed up. I'll just be a minute."

Zekk grabbed her arm. "Oh no you won't!" He said, smiling and pulling her after him. "You'd take half an hour putting on a dress that you'd spend all night trying not to get dirty because it isn't yours and it'd turn out to be a miserable night. I'd rather just have you be the Jaina I know." He winked at her.

She grinned. "Well, I've never seen Zekk in a suit. Are you sure you're not his twin brother?"

He grinned back. "Its not a suit and you know it. Its just a nice pair of slacks and a button-up shirt. Although for me, I guess that is a suit."

Jaina nodded and laughed. "So, where are we going?"

"Oh, I thought we'd go to the Shooting Star. It's the nicest place I know."

Jaina nodded again. "Mom said she went there once. She said it was rather nice for a smaller restaurant. The kind you'd be able to afford," she added with a wink.

Zekk nodded. "It may not be what you're used to, but it's the best I can do." He tucked her hand into his elbow and led her off like a classy gentleman with his lady.

Zekk hopped out of the sky taxi, paid the man and helped Jaina out. She tossed the cabby a little tip of her pocket money and then followed Zekk.

He tucked her hand into his elbow again and led her into the restaurant. Her eyes widened as she took in the bright lights in the lobby and the dim, almost romantic lighting over the tables. Men and women in formal attire strode past them and Jaina's brow furrowed.

"I feel so out of place, Zekk! Mom took us to some very classy restaurants when we would come here for her Senator things, but _none_ of them were like _this_! If this is a '_small_ restaurant', I'd hate to see a '_big_ restaurant'!" She whispered.

"Hey, just relax. I've come here before wearing stuff like this and no one'll stare at you. In fact, we might not be the only ones." He pointed to another couple in casual clothing more like theirs. "You'd probably look too much like a doll in a big, fancy dress. Right now, I think you look beautiful."

Jaina blushed just a little. "Yeah right. You say that to all your girls."

Zekk paused, then nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Jaina stared at him for a few moments before realizing that he was joking. She grinned at him. "You're such a nut," she said, laughing.

"And proud of it, m'lady!" She just rolled her eyes at him.

They ordered their food with no difficulty. Soon, a hidden band struck up a soft dancing tune. Zekk rose and bowed to Jaina.

"Dance, m'lady?" He asked in a voice with a rather good accent. She smiled and snorted, but slipped out of the chair. Taking her hand, Zekk led her out onto the dance floor.

As they twirled past a table situated in a little alcove, Jaina heard something that made her ears prick.

"So what're we gonna do about all those kids that escaped last week?" One person asked. She could just barely tell that it was a man he spoke so low.

She whispered in Zekk's ear to try to stay near that table. He gave the barest of nods, but contrived to stay near the table in question without drawing attention to them. Thus, Jaina was able to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Well, we've gotta keep lookin', else the department head'll have _our_ heads!" Said a second man. The first shook his head.

"I don't know where else we _can_ look!"

"Well, how 'bout some of the local dance clubs and stuff? Or some of those teen hangouts. There's a good enough chance they stopped in one of those places."

The first man considered this, then nodded. "We've got enough men in our department; we can send one or two to check each of the popular ones and then they can go to some of the less popular ones after."

Jaina and Zekk looked at each other. What would they do? Jaina wished she could speak mind to mind with her friend like some of the other Jedi could so that they wouldn't draw attention to themselves while trying to figure something out, but that was pretty futile. She tried to think of what else they could do. Not much. They were booked at The Rose Night for the next week and she wasn't sure they could cancel. Well, they might have to since there was a reasonable chance she could be recognized otherwise.

They had to find a way out... fast.


	6. Chapter Six: Take Off

Disclaimer: Star Wars, of course, belongs to George Lucas. He refused to give it to me for Christmas. Something about Solos always losing things in sabacc games. (little does he know that _I_ never play, and if I do, I never lose, heehee)

I've taken some liberties with the E-wing because I really had to get _everyone_ off and I didn't want to take two ships. So even though it's impossible, I tried to make it as plausible as I could with the lean info I could find on E-wings. Blech.

A/N: Does anyone know how to transfer cassette tapes into a computer into something I can put on the Internet? Because I was going to record an unabridged edition of Dancing with Stars and put it on the 'Net. (I'm an actress, you see, and I can usually do good voices and accents and I've always wanted to narrate a Star Wars book, heehee)

A/N: I'm _so_ sorry it's taken so long to update! I'm trying to work on Chapter Seven, but it's hard because I've got so many ideas for Fast Forward (my Ella Enchanted story), but I'm getting more ideas for how to write Dancing. I'm still looking for Betas, so YES, DathomiranAuthorRoamer, I would _love_ to have you as a Beta! If you email me, make sure you say it's for JainaEowyn, otherwise it won't get forwarded to the address I can reply from (really complicated, so I won't try to explain it here).

**DathomiranAuthorRoamer**: Yes, I find it very annoying when Jacen is referred to as the older twin, especially in official books! Grr... But I'm such a Jaina freak, I've read too many not to know that, hehe.

**Update:** Thank you SO much for all your comments. They are MOST helpful! Okay, let's see...

I know, Jacen doing the other kids' voices may be slightly far-fetched, but he's a Solo, heehee.

I think I might have called them 'security' once (probably not), but I'll change it when I update the story. (once I finish my stories, I edit them again and update all the chapters)

Well, you have to remember that Jaina's been to plenty of political things where she had to wear dresses and stuff, so she probably wouldn't object as strenuously as I would (I NEVER wear make-up and I hate dresses, except Eowyn dresses and that kind of stuff).

I know it seems like they've forgotten their lessons, but they don't have much other way to get back. If they went and tried to get back by some other way... oh, I dunno. See why I need a Beta, hehe? But they'd have to forge fake IDs because they'd broken out of jail and that'd take a while, even with Zekk, and by that time, I guess they'd already left or... something. Cough. I still need a Beta.

Oops, missed the typo. Thanks. I'll change it in my edit. I'm the kind of person who is VERY technical with my spelling and grammar and stuff, and I hate it when I miss stuff, so thanks for catching that.

And I don't exactly know when this takes place because I just started writing it because I was bored and it ended up actually having a semi-plot so... yeah. I'm taking a poll on that, hehe.

**TheAlmightyMasterT-Chan**: I have my reply to all your comments stashed in my other chapter, which is still in my laptop in my room, so I'll reply to them in the next chapter, or I'll update this one to include them. Sorry 'bout that.

Chapter Six: Take Off 

When the two men left the restaurant, Jaina and Zekk made a quick get-away. They grabbed the first air taxi they came to and got to the house they were staying at about an hour after Jaina first heard the men talking.

Jaina burst into the house out of breath, face flushed. "Jacen! Morring! Gemeia! We've got to go! Get your things together! Gemeia, can you help me get out of this sharding dress? Thanks!" She added as the other girl nodded and they ran into another room.

The four young people got together their things quickly enough and only had to wait an extra minute or two for Jaina to finish changing. Soon they were all rushing down the stairs to the door. To their surprise, they found Zekk waiting for them.

"Zekk! What's with the bag?" Jaina asked in confusion.

Zekk raised an eyebrow. "What does it look like? I'm coming with you."

Jaina was still confused. Why did Zekk need to come with them?

She was going to ask, but Jacen beat her to it. "Why, Zekk?" He asked.

Zekk rolled his eyes. "Well, _duh_! I'm wanted too!"

"For wha..." Jaina started, and then trailed off. "Oh. But what about the others?"

"I've been on the police record for a while, so they have my picture and I forgot to put on my disguise, so they have me on evidence on their security cameras. The others were already wearing their disguises and they changed out of them right after they escaped, so they can't track them."

Jaina nodded in comprehension before uttering her famous line: "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

The five teenagers piled into the air taxi. It whizzed away to the space port where Jigger (Zekk's gang's mechanic and all around tinkerer) had stowed their E-Wing a few days earlier. Somehow, he had managed to make some extra room in the droid compartment to make it so four people could sleep there in near comfort, or two could sleep in front and three in back. They couldn't figure out how he did it, but they were more than happy with this development.

Jigger had put the E-Wing in a special private port that was only used occasionally when it's wealthy owner had friends who were visiting. Jigger had checked to make sure no one was due in and, seeing that there wasn't, had gotten the gang's hacker to get into the computer and make an entry so that they could leave. The owner wouldn't be able to see it, and it would be erased once they left, but it would allow the E-Wing to leave Coruscant without trouble.

Zekk, Jacen and Gemeia piled into the expanded rear section of the little ship while Jaina and Morring fiddled with the controls. Slowly, the little craft lifted off and went forwards. Jaina took a deep breath and held her hand above the coordinates locker.

"If this thing goes on auto pilot again, I'll scream," she muttered.

Once they were out of the space port, she quickly punched the coordinates they wanted into the ship.

Jaina screamed.

"AAAAAAHHH! Its on auto pilot AGAIN! AAAAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed again, banging her fist on the seat and then sucking it.

Everyone stared at her. Jaina was usually calm and collected, even in crisis's. _Maybe she's just frustrated because she can't get machinery to work for once_, Jacen thought with a mental grin.

She kicked her foot against the console a few times, then quietly folded her hands into her lap and stared calmly out the cockpit window. She seemed to suddenly feel everyone looking at her and she turned around.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" She asked, unable to think of anything else to say. There was a pause. "Oh, nothing I guess," she said in a quiet little embarrassed voice.

The all sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Jacen spoke.

"Um, lets play a game." Everyone stared at him.

"Like what?" Zekk asked skeptically. "Its not like we brought cards or anything."

"Um, well, then how about a joke?" Jaina tried to stop him, but she was too late. "Um... um... oh, I know! What do you get when you have Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and C-3PO together?"

Zekk sighed, knowing Jacen would answer his own question if someone didn't ask. "I don't know, what?" Zekk asked in a monotone voice.

"A really bad rescue mission!" Jacen laughed. "Not bad, huh? I made it up just now." Jaina didn't even groan. They were all staring at him. Jaina finally broke the silence again.

"Um, yeah, I think we all noticed that."

Jacen sighed. "No one's _ever_ gonna laugh at my jokes, _are_ they?" He asked in both desperation and exasperation.

"No!" Jaina and Zekk emphatically answered in unison for them all.

"Especially not Tenel," Jacen added to himself under his breath, but Jaina heard and stared at him for several minutes.

There was an uncomfortable silence for at least ten minutes as everyone tried to think of what they might be able to do to pass the time. Suddenly, Morring snapped his fingers.

"Hey, ya know, we _did_ bring cards!"

Everyone looked surprised except for Gemeia who was smiling secretively.

"Yeah, I packed a few little games and Gem got some disk books and a couple readers! We can take turns playing and reading!"

"Why didn't you mention it _before_?" Jaina cried in frustration.

"Well, I forgot about it after your, uh... outburst." Morring looked sort of sheepish and embarrassed.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Jaina said uncomfortably. There was an awkward pause before Jaina broke it again. "So, what are we waiting for?"

Everyone laughed and Morring dealt out the cards.

A/N: Sorry it's so short, but I'm having a bit of writer's block on this because I've got so many ideas for my Ella Enchanted fic and I know what's going to happen in this story for a while (sort of), but I can't figure out how to write it. So if you know what you want to have happen (nothing 'adult', though), email me or suggest it in your review and I'll see about adding it. Thanks to all my great reviewers!


	7. Chapter Seven: Planetside

Disclaimer: I am Jaina Solo, of course, but unfortunately George won't give me my heritage of Star Wars. Something about Solos always lose things like rights in bets on sabacc games. Whatever.

A/N: Thank you to for pointing out that Jaina should have recognized Coruscant. I'm trying to decide if I'll update it or if she was just disoriented enough and so excited to see a planet that she didn't recognize it. Uh… I think I'll update... hopefully soon… maybe. Now you see why I need a Beta Reader. It's rather scary when I, the girl who pretends to be Jaina Solo all the time and calls Harrison Ford 'Dad' even while watching Indiana Jones, miss something like that. I'm stupid.

And _yes_, Datho, I could definitely still use a Beta! Make sure the subject of the email is 'for JainaEowyn' because it has to get forwarded to my regular email. Blech.

Okay, poll time! I also need people's feedback as to if you think this is set after Darkest Knight or not. I still can't decide, and I need to know because I was thinking of doing

Chapter Seven: Planetside 

Two days later…

"_Bored!_" Jaina all but yelled. She had been having a thumb war with Zekk and had finally decided she'd had enough and let him pin her thumb. Their thumbs had gotten rather strong in the past few days.

Zekk jumped back, rubbing a finger in his ear. They had been close enough to touch foreheads while they concentrated on their thumb war and Jaina's yell had been perilously close to his ear.

"Whoa, Jay! Cool your engine!" He cried.

She sank back. "Sorry 'bout that. It's just that I can't _stand_ this!"

Zekk sighed and fell back into his own seat in the cockpit. "I know what you mean. You Solos and me can't be still for too long without going crazy."

"Hey, I'm _already_ crazy!" Jaina corrected him. "I was stuck in here with not much to do once already."

"Hey, I hear ya," Zekk agreed, "but there's not much we can do about it! I know: let's have a singing match." Everyone groaned. He'd suggested the same idea five times already that 'day'. They assumed it was day at any rate, because that's what their chronometers said.

"Oh, c'mon, it'll be fun!" Zekk protested.

"Fine then. You start," Jaina said in a monotone voice.

"Well, I, uh…" Zekk sighed. "Fine. But you know how rotten my voice is."

Jaina rolled her eyes and lounged back on her elbow. "Zekk, you and I sang at a club. Of _course_ I know how rotten your voice is. It hasn't sung for _four whole_ _days_, although it _has_ been talking more than is good for it, so maybe it _has_ gotten rotten," she added sarcastically. Zekk groaned.

"'Kay, 'kay, I'm singin', I'm singin'."

He sang a short ditty about some nonsense. Jaina gave him a pointed stare. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I'll do a better one!"

He started singing and everyone stared at him in surprise. It was actually a pretty good song! It was about some kids who were marooned on a deserted planet, but still!

When Zekk finished, everyone stared at him for a few moments. He looked around uneasily.

"What, was it that bad?"

Everyone shook their heads, dumbfounded.

"Wow, that was… _good_!" Jaina finally said, as if she'd thought it would be pretty bad. "Who wrote that? I've got to get more of their music chips!"

"Well, um…" Zekk said, squirming uncomfortably.

"Who?" Jaina prompted again, looking at him eagerly.

"Well… me," Zekk said, looking at his feet.

They all stared at him in silence again.

"You?" Jaina broke the silence again. "When did you _write_ it!?"

"Just now."

"_What_!?"

Zekk flinched. "So now you're telling me it's bad again."

Jaina quickly shook her head. "No – no, no, no, no! That was good! Got any more?"

Zekk grinned, shaking his head. "I can show you another card game, though, but then I want to listen to a disk book."

Jaina looked surprised that he actually _wanted_ to read something, but she shrugged.

"Hey, okay, okay! Go ahead and deal…"

Three days later…

They were still in the ship. Everyone was staring at the person or persons that were in the same compartment (cockpit or droid compartment) with them, that being the only thing left to do.

They'd read all the disk books, played all the many card games Zekk and all the rest of them knew, and done everything else they could think of. They had enough food to last for another day, maybe two. Zekk and Jaina were sitting in the cockpit again, staring at each other boredly just as the other three were in the back, although the threee in the back were seeing if they could get both their eyes to look in opposite directions at the same time (with no success). It looked like Zekk and Jaina were just staring at each other with bored expressions. Jacen thought maybe they were seeing who could look more bored, but he couldn't tell because he was trying to cross his eyes the wrong way so they would look at Morring and Gemeia at the same time. Suddenly, Jaina screamed.

"_PLANET_!!" Everyone jumped and pushed up front. Jacen's head ended up poking up between Jaina and Zekk, who were leaning forwards on their seats, seeing if they could figure out what the planet was. Morring and Gemeia managed to squish up the sides of the seats enough to see, too.

Jaina sighed. "I wish we knew which planet this is." Morring let out a growl.

"I think I know this place," he said in a grave voice as they got closer.

Jaina looked back at him, almost looking concerned, but too excited by the site of land to make it quite to genuine concern. "Which one is it?"

"The one we came from," came the solemn reply.

Jaina's face immediately went sober. "Oh. What should we do?"

Zekk looked back at them now, too. "What's the matter with the place you came from?"

Morring glanced at Zekk, then back at the approaching planet. "My uncle, who is our guardian now that our parents died, hates us. He was showing us this old relic that we're in now, and then he went and let it take off with us in it. It was on auto-pilot and it took us to Yavin IV. That _is_ where you said we were, wasn't it, Jay?" Jaina nodded and he continued. "We don't know why he hated us, except that he was too busy for a couple of 'kids'." He grimaced at the word as he had when he explained it to Jaina. "I'm sure Jaina explained the rest to you on Coruscant, and that brings us back to where we are now." Zekk nodded and sighed.

"So we're landing on a hostile planet, huh?" Morring nodded. "Well then, we've got to get down to business," Zekk started briskly. "Okay, Jaina, you're going to have blond hair and blue contacts."

She stared at him. "Huh?"

"Just what I said. We're going to need disguises so that no one recognizes us, at least until we can get another ship to get back to wherever we all need to go." Jaina was still staring at him, not even listening to the last bit that he said.

"You actually brought disguises," she said incredulously.

Zekk nodded. "I always bring stuff like that. Just in case," he added.

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways, how are you going to turn my hair blond?" She had her suspicions, but she wanted him to deny them.

"I brought some dye."

"_Dye_!?" Jaina shrieked, and everyone covered their ears. "Dye!?" She asked again, quieter. "Look, I don't _want_ my hair to be permanently blond, thank you,_ Zekk_," she hissed dangerously.

Zekk grinned. "Oh, don't worry, I've got a special dye remover, and none of it will hurt your hair. Besides, I've always wanted to see you as a blue-eyed blond."

She glared at him, but allowed him to do it. When he finished, she saw Jacen smothering a grin, but then again, he was her brother, so that was expected.

"Jace, you're next," Zekk announced, which wiped the smile right off Jacen's face immediately and placed it onto Jaina's mug.

Zekk held his head in his hand and tapped a finger on his chin. "Hmm… I think you'll have red-brown hair and green eyes." Jacen groaned, but allowed Zekk to do his worst.

Morring became black-headed and brown-eyed, Gemeia kept her brown hair, but got more blond highlights and black eyes, and Zekk got brown hair and black eyes. Jaina got to do Zekk since he couldn't do it himself as easily as he did the others, and she took great pleasure in her revenge.

They were all finally ready, although the ship now smelled somewhat of the chemicals in the dye that was now on their hair.

The ship finally broke atmosphere and Jaina and Zekk got control of the ship again. This time they were ready and Jaina took the controls until they got hailed. Then she handed them over to Zekk and she took the comm unit.

"Unidentified ship, this is planet security. Please state your business."

They had already decided what they were doing there. "We're here to audition at the new night clubs," Jaina replied, sounding enough like her mom that Jacen and Zekk jumped.

Since there wasn't much of any way they could check into this since there wasn't much of any way that security could check into this since there were so many new night clubs all over this planet, they figured they were safe. Jaina thought she heard an annoyed sigh before security replied.

"Very well, E-wing, proceed. Clearance granted for pad B-114."

"Thank you," Jaina replied politely, then Zekk maneuvered them smoothly in for a landing. They disembarked and went out to find out what they could.

While they were wandering around, Jaina happened to glance in a store window and saw the reflection of a strange group of five kids who looked about their age. She looked around to see where they were, then jumped backwards when she realized that the kids were them. Zekk was walking next to her and caught her when she accidentally jumped into him.

"Hey, what's the matter, Jay?" He asked, letting her go quickly.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I just saw our reflections in that window and I thought it was someone else."

Zekk only laughed.

Morring finally said they should probably go to his uncle's house and spy on him to find out why he disliked them so much. Everyone else agreed, although it took them longer than anticipated to find the place, even though Morring and Gemeia already knew where it was.

When they finally got there, they found that it was easier to spy on him than they thought. There were plenty of hiding spaces all around the house, both inside and out. Jaina and Zekk managed to get inside and the other three prowled around outside.

Once inside, Jaina and Zekk found some spare servants uniforms and each took turns changing into them in the supply closet while the other kept guard.

Once changed, they non-chalantly strode through the hallways, then stopped when they heard voices. They peeked into the room to see a man who somewhat resembled Morring.

'_Uncle_,' Jaina mouthed to Zekk, who nodded. They saw that there was a door in the left wall and they went into an adjoining room and put the ear buds of one of Zekk's little gadgets into their ears to enhance their hearing so they could clearly hear the conversation, which was also recorded in the same device so they could show the others later.

"Are you sure he's dead?" Asked a male voice, not sounding almost happy about whoever it was being dead.

"Yes, sir, I'm sure. The funeral is going to be held in three days," replied another male voice sounding about as sad as the first.

"Good. And the children are out of the way?" Asked the first voice.

"Yes sir. Morring and Gemeia will _never_ be coming back," the second man replied with an almost evil tone to his voice. "In fact, they're probably dead and still floating in space since that planet you programmed into the coordinates was probably smashed to smithereens by the Empire."

Jaina stifled a gasp. He must mean Yavin IV! Blaster bolts, these people were _really_ behind in the news department if they thought Yaving IV was 'smithereens'. This must be Morring and Gemeia's uncle and his second-hand man or something. But why did he want them dead and who's funeral was in three days? And how could he not know that it was the _Death Star_ that was 'smithereens'? That was _ages_ ago!

"Once the funeral is over, sir, you will be able to claim the throne and rule the planet as you've wanted for so many years," the second voice continued.

"Very good!" The first voice said gleefully. Jaina decided that he must be the uncle. "With the children out of the way, then I will be king!"

Jaina signaled to Zekk who retracted the listening device and pulled the ear bud out of Jaina's ear. She rubbed her other ear where it had been smashed up against Zekk's so they could both hear at the same time; since the device was made for one person and there were only two ear buds, they had had to share it.

After detaching the device, they picked up their clothes, not bothering to change, and made it outside to the others.

"We found him!" Jaina breathed, waving around the device. "We've got the whole conversation recorded!"

Morring and Gemeia jumped up and Jacen slowly got to his feet. Jaina turned down the volume on the device so it wouldn't attract attention and they all listened to the recorded conversation.

"That's him," Morring said grimly when he heard the first voice.

"Your uncle?" Jaina asked, already knowing the answer. Morring nodded and kept listening. His face hardened when he heard his and his sister's names, but he still said nothing. Then he heard the part about the king and his eyes widened.

"Why would he need _us_ out of the way to be able to become king?" Morring asked in confusion. "And how come _he_ would become king? I don't remember our tutor telling us about him having an heir when he taught us recent history and that sort of thing."

"Maybe you're the long lost prince and princess!" Jacen joked, laughing, but subsided when he saw Morring's solemn expression.

"It would be news to me, but maybe, somehow and for a reason unknown, you're right, Jacen. Maybe our parents kept this fact from us on purpose." He shrugged.

Then Gemeia piped up. "Come on, let's go to the city library and look up the old holo-net news. Maybe they'll have something in there."

She got up and started running and the others followed her.

They walked into the city library a little while later and went to the information desk. Jaina rang a small bell and a librarian pushed away from a desk and slid over to them on a wheeled desk chair.

"Yes? May I help you?" She asked.

"Yes. We're looking for the holo-net news archives," Zekk replied.

"Go right, take the first left and then the third right and you'll find the archives," the librarian instructed.

They all thanked her and headed off for the archives.

They quickly found them and put in a search. It took a while, but the results finally came up.

"Um… duh-fmm-su-dum," Morring mumbled incoherently as he scanned the results. "Ah, I think this is what we're looking for!" He opened the document and started reading aloud.

"King Jeremen's sister Sahlah was married yesterday to Pherell Derth, the son of a nobleman of the court. They have both renounced their titles with any connection to royalty, but should they have any children, they will be next in line for the throne should the king die. Until that time, Sahlah and Jeremen's cousin Theren will the heir to the throne and will also inherit it if anything happens to any children Sahlah or Jeremen should have before Theren dies."

Morring and Gemeia stared at each other in horror as Morring finished reading.

"He wanted to murder all of us to get the throne," Gemeia whispered.


End file.
